E3 2016: Sony E3 Conference

Sony definitely brought it this year with a great selection of first party and third party games, but featured nearly no instruction or information regarding any of these games. It was as if they pressed play on the video feed and then just sat in the back for the show. Here are the highlights:

God of War

At first I assumed it was Horizon: Zero Dawn, but then a bearded Kratos stepped into the frame, it was a nice surprise for sure. You see Kratos, who seems to have a family now, hunting in the woods with what appears to be his son. Visuals are stunning and the gameplay looks very solid. Hard to say what the story will be, but so far it seems to be a nice departure of the typical God of War style. The title is simply titled God of War and no release date was given as of yet.

Days Gone

Bend Studio, the developer known for Syphon Filter, brings us a stellar looking character title by the name of Days Gone. You play as a Drifter, a Bounty Hunter.. a Mercenary. They ended the show with this title showing off some gameplay. It looks to be something similar to Last of Us, but in a more real world setting than the title by Naughty Dog. There is a weird freaky undead element to the game, but nothing much about the story was shown.

Last Guardian

Yet another trailer for the game that seems to have taken years upon years to come out. Originally announced for the PlayStation 3 almost a decade ago, it is finally going to be released soon on PS4 this October 25th. Journey with a small boy and his mystical creature ally as they embark on a fantastic adventure.

Horizon – Zero Dawn

This was a title shown off last E3 that looked incredible. Made by Guerrilla Games, makers of the Killzone franchise, this delayed to Feb 2017 title features robotic creatures in an era of something similar to that of cave man and early civilization. Play as female hero Aloy and journey to find out mysteries about the land and its history. Visually the game is fantastic, but a few of the faces of NPC’s are not as impressive as the more fantastical elements like the robotic creatures and the main character. What was shown this year is a new gameplay trailer showing a small segment of the game where you take down one of the robotic beasts.

Detroit – Become Human

Created by the team behind Beyond Two Souls. In a world when androids start to disobey. You play as Conner, an android. You will collect information, examine the evidence, solve crimes, and face the consequences of your actions. While it is hard to say how drastic the story will get based upon those choices, it seems fairly impressive.

Resident Evil 7

The first E3 shown VR title for the PlayStation VR headset, Resident Evil 7 looks promising. Walking around a spooky house in a game is one thing, having it before your eyes is just truly terrifying. A combination gameplay and game trailer showed off a fairly impressive game, but very few details were given other than this does not feel like a Resident Evil game at all, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your view. The game will be released January 24th, 2017. The game has said to be compatible with and without the headset.

PlayStation VR

October 13th will see the release date of the headset at $399.99 US. Over 50 games have been said to be in production for the headset, but very few were mentioned by name.

FarPoint

A Mass Effect / Lost Planet looking game that looks fairly impressive. Nothing much was said about the game, nor when we should expect it.

Star Wars – Battle Front – X-Wing VR Mission

They showed a cockpit demo of the game blasting a few Tie Fighters in space and played the Star Wars theme and that was it.

Batman Arkham VR

Made by Rocksteady, they had Mark Hamill voice the Joker as he narrated as the camera moved around a mask of Batman.

Final Fantasy XV

A flashy trailer showing footage of both on foot and riding a Chocobo was shown, and it still looks impressive as always. It is released September 30th, 2016. Not sure what VR capabilities this title will have other than seeing through the eyes of the Prompto character.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

An impressive looking space game starts up as we see a few characters enter the bridge of ship. We then see that it is a 1st person title with soldiers running in tandem with some mechs of some type. As you get into a smaller ship of some kind and enter a space battle, the action gets intense. It is then we learn that this is the new Call of Duty. It is to be released November 4th, 2016. It is also unclear if the space battles are controllable or on rails.

Call of Duty – Modern Warfare Remaster

This is exactly as it sounds. A Remaster of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This is included ONLY with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Legacy, Legacy Pro, and Digital Deluxe editions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Crash Bandicoot Collection

Instead of a new Crash Bandicoot game, we are getting Remasters of the first three titles in the Crash series. No Crash Team Racing though? Come on, Sony!

Skylanders Imaginators

They showed off some footage of the game, but this trailer was merely here to show that Crash would guest star in the Sony versions of the game.

Lego Star Wars – Force Awakens

Your typical Lego made game. It comes out right away this month. It is based upon the Star Wars: Force Awakens movie.

Death Stranding

We see a trailer, in-engine of a man waking up among death and a black liquid. It is Norman Reedus, naked. He is in front of 5 beings that are floating in the sky. No release date was given, and all we were treated to was a trailer. This is the new game by legend Hideo Kojima.

Spider-Man

Made by Insomniac, wow, this looks impressive. New Costume, but other than that no more info was given other than a visually pleasing trailer showing web swinging around the city and some combat attacks. No Release date was given, but it is a sure bet it will be released alongside the movie. It ended with a #SpidermanPS4 hashtag, but that is unclear if it is exclusive or not.

Overall, the Sony Conference felt a bit lonely, but still showed off some impressive stuff. God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Days Gone and Death Stranding look fantastic. No Vita announcements were made thus solidifying that the company is done with the handheld.

Yeah, I just wish Sony had more confidence in it world wide. Just needed some killer apps to really make it sell here. Love the Japanese imports tho! Hopeful Valkyrie Drive, if that’s what it is called, comes to NA.